“NOW WHAT?” I half-shouted.

I pointed at the row of SUVs in front of us, half of which were now on fire.

The cars were armored, but I watched the crowd surge around them, rocking them with their hands and chanting. A man wearing a red bandanna and lower face mask approached the lead car with a long crowbar and began bashing in the hood with violent swings.

I felt a ripple of irritation off Black, even as the driver forced her way out of the front seat, pushing the car door through the surging crowd to aim a gun at the man wielding the crowbar.

“Stop!” she commanded. “Right now.”

Turning, the guy grinned at her through the face mask. I heard her shout something else at him, but her words were drowned out by the crowd that time.

Then the guy hurled the crowbar at her.

I saw the driver curse, ducking.

I realized it was Michelle when I heard her voice. I’d barely recognized her with her hair pulled back in a severe bun, wearing the full combat armor versus the expensive pantsuits I normally saw her in.

The crowbar slammed into the driver’s side window, and a series of lines and cracks exploded over the shatterproof glass.

The road was wall to wall people now.

The guy with the crowbar melted back into that crowd.

I’d just waded out into that same crowd with Black, Jem, Mika, Cowboy, Angel, Easton and Frank. Holo and Jax followed, still in a flanking position around Black himself, with Manny and Yarli following close behind. Black and I were both surrounded by infiltrators carrying assault rifles, but I still felt exposed out here.

Jem never left my side.

He seemed totally focused again, back in military mode.

I could hear voices shouting back and forth in my earpiece, most of them still tracking the vampires. Looking ahead, I saw another group of rioters with red and black face masks beating at our cars further down the row of SUVs, most of them using baseball bats and metal poles.

I looked at Black, frowning.

He returned my frown, then touched his earpiece.

“Get the fuck out of there,” I heard him say to his drivers. “We can’t get through that way. There are too many people on the goddamned street… and the seers can’t do much in this construct. Pull out everything you need and join us here. We’ll walk out together.”

His voice dropped to a growl. “…Feel free to bash a few of those fuckers in the face on your way out, through.”

“You want us to leave the cars?” I heard Rueben say on the comm.

“Leave the fucking cars,” Black growled. “That’s what insurance is for.”

“Got it, boss,” I heard Michelle say.

I knew Black was right. Other than opening fire on the crowd, our options were pretty limited without access to seer pushes to get the humans to back off. The construct over us had now clamped down over this whole part of the city.

I could feel it pushing on me, even under Black’s shield.

I felt it looking for a way into my light, into my mind. I felt it trying to draw me deeper into the chaos around us, tugging on threads in my memories, in my heart, trying to get me to panic, to lash out. The subtlety of it was unnerving. I felt frequencies of light trying to resonate with experiences I’d had in wartime, times I’d felt trapped or afraid or enraged.

I felt it nudging me to join in with the rioters, to give myself over to the violence, the chaos, to join in with the chanting, the destruction.

We just had to get the hell out of here.

Hopefully the guns we carried would convince most people to give us enough space to walk out.

It’s affecting you more right now, doc, Black murmured in my mind, holding up the rifle he carried and giving me a grim look. Don’t let it get to you. You’re fine.

I nodded, swallowing.

I knew what he meant.

Still, being reminded of Solonik right then didn’t exactly calm me down.

Being reminded of Nick right then wasn’t super helpful either.

Do you still have eyes on him? I sent, looking up. Solonik? He’s leading the team going after Nick, right?

Black gave me a hard look, glancing at Jem before he shook his head.

No, he sent. I have the drones out looking for them, but they knocked two of them down. Apparently your uncle’s construct is calibrated to look for them.

Feeling something off me, probably the sick feeling that rose in my gut and chest, making me light-headed, Black gripped my arm in his free hand.

Miri. This isn’t Bangkok. He leaned closer, kissing my cheek, nuzzling my face. We have other seers with us now. We’re not alone. We’re okay. All right? I’m not letting Solonik get anywhere fucking near you.

I nodded, conscious of other lights listening to this, conscious of Jem, Jax, Mika and Holo especially, since they squeezed up against us in the tight space.

I couldn’t really make myself care about how I appeared to them, though. It didn’t even cross my mind to feel embarrassed. Their worry and concern smothered me, surrounding my body and light with electric pulses and shocks of their light, but I couldn’t really decide how I felt about that, either.

I’ll tell you the second anything changes, okay? Black sent. The very fucking instant I know anything, you’ll know it too, doc. Right now, we should assume he’s still moving away. He’s leading the team tracking Brick, and the last we saw, they were ten blocks away from us right now, doc… heading towards SOMA.

Thinking about Solonik tracking Nick made my heart beat harder all over again.

Have they taken out any of the vampires? I sent.

Not that we know of. Glancing at me, feeling the charge in my light, he added, The last we got visuals on any of them, Nick was fine, Miri. So was Brick… and Dorian.

I nodded, but couldn’t really make myself relax.

Gripping the gun I’d unholstered, although I still aimed it at the ground, I watched the drivers of the nine SUVs shove their way through the crowd to reach us. All of them wore backpacks, and I realized it was because they’d pulled all of the extra weapons and clips out of the cars, and now wore them on their backs.

“Where to now, boss?” Luce said, half-shouting over the sound of the crowd as she pushed her way through bodies to reach us.

Michelle came up behind her, shouldering her rifle and a backpack of her own. Right as they reached us, a shout went up from the other side of the SUVs, along with scattered gunshots. All of us ducked reflexively, even as Black scowled, scanning the crowds around us as he raised his own weapon. I saw his eyes dart back towards the warehouse, could almost feel him trying to decide if we should hole up in there until the worst of this had died down or moved on.

Looking over my shoulder, I followed his stare towards the building we’d just left.

Dex, Miguel and a few others in Black’s crew already had it locked up and bolted across the front with a flat metal bar. I was still staring in that direction when another group of red and black-masked Purity agitators ran by.

One of them threw a Molotov cocktail against the steel door as they passed, hooting loudly.

The glass shattered, the lit fluid spraying over the metal in a spiderweb pattern, and Black gave me an annoyed look, right before he turned his frown back around at his employees. Again, I could almost feel him thinking.

By then, I was thinking too, though.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he growled. “Jem, I want you to cover Miri, and––”

I was already shaking my head.

“No!” I caught hold of Black’s arm, meeting his gaze when he looked down. “No, Black. We can’t leave Nick to Solonik. We can’t.”

Black’s jaw hardened, even as I heard Jem click in frustration next to me.

My eyes never left Black’s.

Frowning, Black leaned down, putting his lips to my ear.

“Miri, Jem’s right. I can’t let you get anywhere near Solonik. Not if he’s ranked as highly as Jem says. Not when we don’t know if he’s still fixated on you… or if he could still connect to your light from the trauma and the previous connection he had, or some structure I missed that he left in your light. We can’t risk him doing something batshit crazy… to either one of us.”

“Not to mention that he might be here to extract one or both of you,” Jem said, giving me a harder look as he spoke above the crowd. “Or that this riot might simply be cover for his team to do just that.”

Frowning at Jem, then ignoring him, I focused solely on my husband.

“He’ll kill him, Black,” I said. “He’ll kill Nick.”

Black frowned.

I went on before he could speak.

“––You know he will. There’s no way in hell Charles will let Brick have that kind of leverage over us. There’s just no way. You know I’m right.”

For a long moment, Black only looked at me.

His gold eyes reflected the flames from the Molotov cocktail burning itself out on the steel door, but I saw him there, saw the conflict worsen as he turned over my words.

Then he exhaled in frustration.

“Goddamn it,” he said, that frustration reaching his voice. “All right. Let’s go.”

“CAN YOU REACH him on the number I gave you?” Black said, speaking louder as another wave of screams rose in a nearby alley. “Try the office one, too. The one he gave Lizbeth.”

I knew who “him” was.

He was trying to get through to Brick.

I knew if he managed to get him on the phone, he’d try to pull Brick and the rest of his leadership team in with us.

Where we’d put them after that wasn’t something I was ready to think about yet. The idea of housing twenty or so vampires at the California Street building––after what just happened to Kiko––was more than my mind could really process right then.

Telling Kiko I’d talked Black into doing it to protect the exact same vampire who raped and nearly killed her probably wasn’t going to go over well, either.

Just don’t expect me to be the one to explain it to her, doc, Black muttered at me. This was your idea. I’m not taking the bullet for this… figuratively or literally.

I didn’t have a good response for that, either.

Probably because I knew he was right.

Black led us in a broken V-formation, taking us on a fast military jog down the middle of Valencia, all of us weaving between clusters of people.

Most of the crowd still on this section of street seemed to either be running away from the sirens we could hear up ahead, or milling and wandering in groups.

I don’t know why so many remained on the street.

We’d given up on telling them to go home. Most of them ignored us anyway.

I don’t know if they were hypnotized by the construct, in shock, trying to collect themselves, or just trying to comprehend what the hell was going on. I saw a lot of civilians just sitting on the sidewalk, some of them with bloody faces, bodies, and heads. We jogged past a woman in a short white dress who was crying, surrounded by friends, most of whom just stood there, talking and drinking from flasks.

Blood covered the front of her sequined outfit and ran down her arms and legs.

I winced as we passed, watching her sob. I was glad she had friends around her, comforting her, their arms around her where she sat on the curb, but I wondered why the hell they didn’t take her home––or better yet, to a hospital.

I didn’t read her to find out the specifics of what happened to her. I might not have been able to read her anyway, given the construct, but I didn’t even try.

We’d already seen some of that on the way here.

I’d watched Black personally drag two men wearing black and red masks off a girl wearing a clubby outfit in front of one of the Valencia dance clubs.

Cowboy and Angel broke up another cluster who were dragging two girls into an alley off the main road. I saw Dex, Luce, Jax and Holo break up a group of Purists who were kicking the crap out of a group of homeless men who’d been sitting on the curb outside a taqueria.

They didn’t only target young women and homeless people.

I also saw a number of well-dressed men who’d obviously been hit with bottles or rocks, likely wielded by the “Purity soldiers,” as I’d heard them called on the news.

“They sure like to beat up on women,” Cowboy muttered, almost like he’d been hearing my thoughts.

I gave him a grim look, but he wasn’t looking at me.

He was staring at two more young women with bloody heads and bruised faces as we passed another group of twenty-somethings in club wear. Like many others we’d seen, they were all huddled together. They were moving though, slowly making their way out of the area.

“Women in short dresses especially,” Angel muttered from next to me.

“What do these Purity fuckers even want?” Dex said, looking over at us from where he jogged on the other side of Black. “Other than to beat up on people they don’t like?”

Angel snorted, glancing at him.

“Isn’t that enough?” she said. “Isn’t that what all fanatics want? For everyone to burn in hell who isn’t exactly like them?”

“Yeah, but why other humans?” Jax said. “I thought it was a whole anti-vampire thing. Isn’t that why Charles is pushing this Purity thing? To get humans to kill vampires?”

“Ayuh. That’s part of it.” Cowboy nodded towards Black. “From what your lao ban’s been saying, it’s more about control, though.” He pointed towards the sky, motioning vaguely without slowing his military-style jog. “Black says these construct-thingys work better if there’s a unifying ideology. Keeps everyone in line. The more rigid the ideology, the better.”

Cowboy glanced at me.

“That’s right, ain’t it, doc?”

I shrugged, glancing at Jax, then back at Cowboy.

“I probably know as much as any of you,” I admitted, hitching the rifle I now wore higher on my shoulder as I jogged alongside the rest of them. “And probably a lot less than Jax when it comes to constructs. From what I’ve read about the Purists, though, they’re an apocalyptic group. They think the world will burn if it’s not ‘purified.’”

“Sounds like those dugra-te di aros Mythers,” Jax muttered.

“Purified, how?” Luce said, jogging closer to us to listen.

“The usual way,” Angel said, rolling her eyes. “No drugs. No drinking. All single mothers are supposed to be rounded up and ‘found husbands.’” She snorted louder. “Men are supposed to work at ‘virtuous employment’ and raise children who are ‘pure.’ Women who break the laws can be sold into slavery, apparently––”

“Slavery?” Luce stared at her. “What the fuck? Is this some Bible thing?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. It’s pieced together from a number of religions, from what Black told me. He thinks Charles kept the religious aspects purposefully vague, so they’d be applicable to a number of different belief systems.”

I exchanged grimaces with Angel.

“…Convenient for Charles,” I added sourly. “It means he can adopt it to any culture on the planet, without fundamentally changing the construct. Every religion can claim the doctrine as their own. So here in the United States, sure, a lot of people think it’s based in the Bible. But Black told me Charles is already experimenting with a version in the Middle East that locals believe came directly from the Koran.”

Shrugging, I added,

“Black thinks those distinctions will gradually be erased, assuming Charles is successful. Everyone will follow the same core beliefs, and it won’t matter what they believed before. As it is, a lot of atheists follow the Purists, too. Now, I mean.”

“Athiests?” Luce frowned. “But why?”

“You mean apart from getting to rape and/or buy any woman they decide is ‘acting impurely’?” Angel said, grunting in anger. “And beating up on homeless people? And being rewarded for acting like a thug? I can’t imagine the appeal.”

Grimacing, I glanced at Luce, watching the younger woman pale at Angel’s words.

“Angel’s not wrong,” I said, watching Luce look at me. “It’ll attract those types at first. But from what I can tell, the Purity ideology is mainly fear-based. It promises to fix all the things that scare people.”

Exhaling, I added,

“So it promises the end of the world, but it says we can all be saved if they purify the world of various ‘corruptions’ now. Most people won’t do that themselves, of course. Even with the construct, I don’t think most would have the stomach for that. But they might let the government and these Purity soldiers do it for them. If Charles can use the construct to convince people it’s necessary to do these things, that it will save them, they’ll go along with it. They won’t fight back. That’s what Charles is banking on, I suspect.”

Angel glanced at me, then added to Luce,

“The doc’s right,” she said. “These foot soldier assholes are just the first wave. Everyone else will just bury their heads in the sand and look the other way. Or yell at the government to end the riots, no matter what the cost.”

Luce shook her head, frowning at both of us.

“There’s no possible way people will go along with this,” she said. “Slavery? Killing anyone who doesn’t follow their fucked up rules? No way. It’s not happening, not in this day and age. This isn’t the middle ages.”

Angel only shrugged, not answering.

I felt her cynicism though, and couldn’t help but agree.

From what Black had told me, Charles was already working to clamp down the internet. I didn’t want to get into all of that with Luce, though.

Not right now. Now definitely wasn’t the time.

Jax didn’t say anything, but I could feel this resonating with him on some level, too.

I could also feel whatever that resonance was, it wasn’t a good one.

“Look,” I said, cutting off where I could feel everyone’s light going. “One problem at a time. Charles hasn’t taken over yet. He might have a lot of seers on his side, and he might be making big moves, but he doesn’t have everyone under his control yet. He won’t get everyone either. My uncle has always underestimated humans. He’s always believed them to be easier to dominate than they are.”

I gritted my teeth, then said it anyway.

“…And it’s too early to count the vampires out,” I added. “There are a lot more of them than many of you probably realize. They haven’t even begun to fight Charles yet. We haven’t, either.”

Glancing over at a band of red and black-wearing Purists running down the other side of Valencia, I scowled.

“Although I’m not going to lie,” I muttered. “This shit is disturbing.”

“And where do vampires fit into all of this?” Dex said, frowning at me and Angel. “In terms of the Purists, I mean. What do they believe they are? Because I’ve seen a lot of conflicting reports on that, too, doc. Do they just see them as super-impure? As demons? Corrupting influences? Some kind of deep state conspiracy? What?”

“Some combination, I suspect,” I said, exhaling steam as I jogged alongside Black.

Glancing up at him, I could tell from his eyes he was talking to someone, maybe in the Barrier. In any case, he wasn’t listening to us.

Sighing again, I looked back at Dex.

“From what I’ve read, some Purists believe humans actually turn into vampires if they allow themselves to become corrupted enough. They seem to believe that’s the fate of all of us, if we don’t ‘purify’ ourselves.”

Angel snorted. “And yeah, Dexter, some also think some shadow movement of dark occultists created them inside the government.” She rolled her eyes. “I was reading all of these Purist conspiracy theories the other day. Some of them are really out there.”

“I’ve read that some Purist believe vampires are actual demons, too,” Luce said, from Jax’s other side. “As in, culled-from-the-netherworld, honest-to-God demons. As in, someone did a bunch of dark rituals and conjured them out of hell. From the article I read, that wing of the movement believes the ‘corrupt’ among us worship vampires, and let them drink our blood. Essentially, they blame corrupt humans for the vampires being here at all.”

“That would include us, right?” Dex said, raising an eyebrow.

“Right now,” Angel snorted. “That includes pretty much anyone not in their cult.”

Sirens blared from closer, maybe only a few streets over, jerking my attention up ahead. Only two blocks past our current position, I saw cops in riot gear backing onto Valencia. Two of them were holding M-32 40 mm launchers, and I watched one aim up at the crowd, shooting what looked like a tear gas canister at a crush of people throwing rocks and bottles.

The crowd throwing weapons all wore red and black masks.

I could hear chanting mixed in with screams as the first canister hit the pavement, expelling a cloud of dark red gas.

Realizing Black was still in the Barrier, I nudged him with my light, flashing an image at him of the rioters moving out into the street and urging him to hang a right at the next corner. We had to hope Mission and Van Ness were still open.

The last anyone had seen, both Brick’s group and Solonik had been traveling north.

Until we got new intel, we had little choice but to do the same.

Black, Jem, and I all tried to use the Barrier at various times to determine which streets had the most Purist soldiers, which streets the cops had cordoned off, which streets had vampire sightings, but it was pretty much impossible with the interference from the construct.

For now, we were flying blind.

Black gave me a bare glance, pinging an acknowledgment, right before he shifted direction, aiming us where I’d nudged him in a diagonal line, using hand motions down the line so everyone behind us would see the change.

I glanced at Angel, who jogged next to me, a grim look on her face, and Cowboy, who loped along on her other side, a rifle and two swords bouncing lightly against his back. I couldn’t help thinking it was a good thing there was a chill in the air that night.

We were all pretty loaded down.

We probably should have sent more of our equipment back with the group that returned to the California Street building.

Manny was in charge of that bunch. He’d taken Frank, Easton and Lex with him, along with Yarli and Mika, in part to reinforce Javier back at the headquarters building, since we’d brought most of the infiltrator seers with us.

I knew Black wanted extra protection on his headquarters building anyway.

The last thing we needed was Solonik or the vampires flanking us, and/or trying to get into that building ahead of us.

“Try the other one,” Black growled, once more speaking to whoever was on the other end of his earpiece, likely Javier or Yarli.

He’d picked up the pace, enough that I found myself straining a little to keep up with his longer legs.

“…And get more drones over there. See if you can get a visual,” he added. “But don’t get too close. Charles definitely has some ability to feel electronics in the air through the construct. That, or he’s pulling some satellite bullshit that’s tagging our drones through GPS. Either way, I don’t intend to lose every damned military drone we have tonight. Until you figure out how he’s doing it, keep your distance.”

In a different headset channel, I listened to seers coordinating under Jem and Yarli.

It was harder to follow their terminology, but I got the gist.

They were trying to hack the construct to find Solonik’s team.

Assuming they were still alive, Brick and his vampires likely wouldn’t be far off from wherever Solonik’s seers were hunting.

“Fine,” Black growled. “Patch him through.”

There was a pause, then Black glanced at me, a frown curling his lips.

“Fine,” he said. “Then patch him through to her. Fucker has to know I’ll be listening in, though. You can tell him that, if you want.”

I gave Black a puzzled look, but he only pinged the new frequency at me with his light.

I touched my own earpiece, voicing the channel change and hoping it would switch over. I still hadn’t used the green-metal seer machines much; I didn’t really have the knack of how they worked.

Black’s mind nudged me again, so I spoke to the machine a second time.

“Pick up,” I said. I waited until I heard the channel open. “Yes?” I said. “Who is this?”

“Miriam.” The voice on the other end sounded immediately relieved. “Miri. You need to tell Black to stand down. Let us handle this.”

I scowled, giving Black a dirty look.

He shrugged. What did you want me to do? Hang up on him?

“A head’s up would have been nice,” I muttered under my breath.

See if you can find out where Solonik is, Black sent, undaunted. Not like he’s liable to tell you shit. But get whatever you can. You’re the only one of us he might talk to.

I scowled at him a second time.

“Miri?” Charles said. “Are you still there? Miriam?”

“I’m here, Uncle Charles,” I growled.

We were jogging down 20th by then. I heard sirens in the distance again, and not only in the block of streets we’d just left behind. Closer by and ahead of us, I heard our seers whistling to one another, using hand signals different than the ones Black’s human team normally used.

Focusing back on the open phone line in my ear, I scowled again.

“What do you want, Uncle Charles?”

“I told you what I want. Do not enter this fray, Miriam. Not only is it dangerous, you’re interfering in things you don’t understand––”

“No.” Gritting my teeth, I shook my head, my voice cold. “No, Uncle Charles. You need to call Solonik off. In fact, you need to get him the fuck out of my city. Now. And you can take your damned Purity assholes with him.”

From my other side, Jem grunted.

Ignoring him, along with the other ears and lights I felt focused on me now, I aimed my anger at my father’s brother instead.

“What the hell are you even doing here?” I said. “I know I shouldn’t be surprised by anything you do at this point, but this is a lot to swallow, even from you––”

“You knew this would come to your doorstep, Miriam,” Charles broke in, his voice sharper, and openly frustrated. “There is no possible way you could have not known this. This unrest is spreading all over the country now. Vampires are being driven from the shadows. You knew the humans would not react well to finding out an alien, parasitic race has been feeding on them since the dawn of their history––”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I snapped. “As if you aren’t creating ninety-nine percent of these ‘popular uprisings’ yourself. How stupid do you think I am?”

“It started that way, yes,” he said, wholly unapologetic. “I’m not hiding anything, Miriam. I told you I would do this. I told you the vampires would be exposed, and driven from their blood-soaked nests. I told you I would direct that exposure in the beginning, if only to keep our own people from dying. Don’t pretend to be surprised that––”

“I’m not surprised by any of that––”

“Then GO HOME, Miriam,” Charles snapped. “I gave you and your husband every opportunity to be a part of this. You refused. You cannot have it both ways––”

“Newsflash, Lucky… we don’t work for you. You don’t get to decide how and when we involve ourselves in this. That’s one of the little perks of telling you to go fuck yourself with your so-called ‘job offers’––”

I felt Jax and Kiessa cheering me on, laughing.

My voice only hardened.

“––And threatening me isn’t exactly going to make me want to work for you, strangely enough. Nor is it exactly going to sway Black––”

“Threatening you? When have I ever threatened you, Miriam?”

“Solonik?” I snapped, still jogging between Black and Angel, catching a furious look from Angel when she glanced my way. “What the fuck kind of message is that, sending my rapist here, to my city? Explain to me how I’m supposed to take that as anything other than a threat?”

Feeling Charles flinch, along with several of the people and seers jogging alongside me, I bit my lip.

“––What the hell are you playing at, sending that psychopath here? Wasn’t my being kidnapped and raped by him the first time enough for you? You needed to send him after me a second time? Or are you hoping he’ll kill me this time––”

“Miriam. Darling, listen––”

“No. You listen,” I snapped. “Get that fucker out of my city. Now! I’m not going to ask you again, Uncle Charles. The fact that you would let that animal anywhere near me after what he did tells me everything I need to know about your ‘plans’ here.”

My voice dropped to an angry mutter.

“…I honestly can’t believe you’d let him out of his cage at all. Especially now, when there are a few thousand more female seers here for him to kidnap and rape.”

There was a tauter-feeling silence.

When my uncle spoke into it, his voice was significantly colder.

“Sometimes you need an animal to hunt an animal, Miriam,” he said. “You, of all people, should understand that.”

“Should I?” I shot back. “And who’s the animal in this scenario, Uncle Charles? Brick? Nick? Me? Or are you referring to my husband?”

Another plume of fury left my uncle’s light.

“You must admit my options are limited, Miriam. You have refused to join me. Your husband has not only refused to help me, he is actively working against me. As a result, I now have to plan to fight not only Brick and the rest of his animals… now I have to worry about you and what your damned husband might do, as well. I have to worry about the seers he has recruited to his team. That limits my options rather considerably, niece.”

Pausing a beat, he added,

“If I had your husband working with me, rather than against me, then that seer shielding you right now… Dalejem, is it? …would be aiding me, too. I wouldn’t need to resort to using a blunt instrument like Solonik––”

I let out a humorless laugh. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me––”

“––As it is,” Charles said, raising his voice. “You and your husband insist on obstructing me at every turn, making deals with vampires, preventing me from protecting you from Brick’s twisted attempts to gain leverage over you. You leave me little choice, niece. I must match firepower with firepower, if only to protect my mission––”

I snorted.

“Your fucking mission.” Contempt reached my voice. “You expect sympathy from me for that? For your attempt to enslave every human and seer on the planet?”

“If you gave a damn about your race, yes,” Charles snapped. “Gaos, Miriam. You really don’t get it, do you? Neither does your husband, seemingly… even though he has experienced far worse at the hands of these creatures than you have. They can destroy us, Miriam. The vampire race can destroy our race… they will destroy us, if we do not annihilate them first. It is inevitable. It is only a matter of time.”

“Bullshit––” I began angrily.

My uncle talked right over me.

“––I am not only talking about our bodies. I am not only talking about their willingness to take our blood. I’m not even talking solely about their efficiency at killing other beings. I am talking about their venom, Miriam.”

Clicking under his breath, he lowered his voice, even as it grew harsher.

“You really don’t seem to understand what that venom means. You really don’t seem to understand the danger it poses to our kind. With their venom, they have the potential to enslave our entire species. How does a woman as intelligent as you not see this? We cannot fight their venom, Miri. We are more vulnerable to it than even humans are. I know of not a single seer who is stronger than the effects of their venom… including your husband.”

His voice turned into a harsh growl.

“Our only choice is to kill them. Do you not see that? If we do not, it is only a matter of time before they make us all their slaves. That includes you, Miriam. That includes Black… and Dalejem… and every seer standing with you this night. I will not allow my entire species to be made into slaves again Miri… only this time, of their minds as well as their bodies. I WILL NOT ALLOW IT. Do you hear me, niece?”

I frowned, staring at where a group of red-masked Purists were using tire irons on the front door of a European-style deli. One of them threw a bottle at a passing woman, hitting her in the head and making her stumble, then fall to one knee.

All of them burst out in laughter, sounding like hyenas.

My uncle’s voice grew louder.

“You can’t have it both ways, Miriam. Either join the fight or get the hell out of my way. If you don’t want Solonik in your city, stop making it necessary for me to send him there. Stop aiming your seers and your husband at me, and Solonik will no longer be necessary! Join the fight that actually matters to our people, or go the fuck home!”

I gritted my teeth.

For a long moment, I couldn’t even find words.

Like with Brick in the meeting earlier, it felt like my uncle and I were speaking completely different languages.

I understood what he was saying about the venom.

I understood why it frightened him so much.

I remembered Efraim. I remembered how Black got, when he got bit.

I could see the danger there, the endgame scenario my uncle was outlining.

But enslaving the entire human race just to wipe out a species that frightened you was so far off the map of an acceptable, proportionate response, I didn’t know how to even bridge that gap. Not without being insulting, or banging my head against a wall.

At my silence, Charles sighed, clicking, even as Black nudged me with his light, pulling my attention to another group of people hurtling down the street towards us. They ran in near formation, like a quasi-military unit, wearing black and red masks.

Rather than Molotov cocktails and tire irons, this group carried automatic rifles.

They gave us a wide berth, but we all stared at them and they stared at us as they passed. I still wasn’t able to read them much through the construct, but they were running towards the rioters we’d just left behind, the ones facing off with the cops on Valencia and 18th.

My uncle spoke, jerking my mind back to him.

“Miriam,” he said, his voice subdued. “You and your husband cannot simply ‘opt-out’ of the world we are building. You cannot simply avoid the vast majority of your people, or your heritage, no matter how far or fast you run.”

I grunted in annoyance.

“Maybe you haven’t been paying attention, Uncle Charles. Black and I have plenty of opportunities to rub elbows with our ‘heritage’ these days––”

From next to me, Jem grunted a laugh.

I glanced at him, and he smiled, nudging me with his elbow.

Grinning back, I jabbed my own elbow back at him, even as I spoke to my uncle through the earpiece.

“––They also remember our so-called heritage a little differently than you do, Uncle Charles. They remember seers like you from Old Earth, and want nothing to do with you and your weird religious bullshit, or your dreams of some bloody Armageddon. From what they told us, your kind are the reason the last world ended in the first place.”

Before he could argue, I sharpened my voice.

“––Call off Solonik,” I said. “Let me and Black deal with Brick. If you really want us to trust you, then stay out of this.”

My uncle clicked at me sharply.

I could almost see him shaking his head.

“You know I can’t do that, Miriam.”

“You mean you won’t.”

“I mean I can’t,” Charles said, sharper. “I cannot allow those creatures to have that kind of power over you. You and your husband are too important. As young and as maddeningly naive as you both are, you simply matter too much… and not only to me. I cannot allow you to make foolish decisions that affect the rest of us, purely based on sentiment over a human who you cannot accept is already dead, Miriam.”

That time, his words hit me like a punch to the chest.

Nick. He was talking about Nick.

My uncle went on, his voice colder.

“Do you have any idea how many people your ‘friend’ Nick Tanaka killed while he and his vampire family were in Europe? Do you have any idea how many he killed in Paris alone? He and that vampire henchman of Brick’s, Dorian, averaged around six a night for nearly a month. You say you care about humans? They killed children, Miriam. They killed whole families––”

Gunshots erupted behind us.

Everyone in our group flinched, including me.

We turned, looking for the source of the shots without stopping our fast jog down the street in the opposite direction.

“Miri!” Charles said, his voice harder. “Are you hearing me?”

“How many have you killed in the past few months, Uncle Charles?” I snapped back. “How many are you killing in my city right now?”

“It’s not the same! You know it’s not the same. My goal is peace, Miriam. Peace and safety for the humans and seers of this world. I am trying to keep vampires from destroying both of our races. If you can’t see the difference between what I’m doing and the indiscriminate murder committed by sociopathic serial killers, I’m not sure I can help you, niece…”

When I shook my head, fighting to push him out of my head, Charles’ voice grew louder, a near-shout I couldn’t help but hear over the gunshots in the background.

“You know damned well your place is here, with me! So is your husband’s, as much as he seems determined to play this game of adolescent rebellion with you. Do not think I will allow either of you to jeopardize our only hope of survival in this world. All for some base sentimentality about a human you gave to vampires to protect. You have no one to blame but yourself for this, Miriam! This is your fault! Nick Tanaka is on you––”

The connection broke.

It happened so quickly, I blinked.

Then I tapped my earpiece, wondering if I’d done it myself.

I glanced at Black, who shrugged, his expression unapologetic.

Did you just hang up on him? I sent.

He was irritating the crap out of me, Black sent.

I couldn’t help it––I laughed.

“He’s not going to help us,” Black said, speaking aloud that time, over the sound of gunshots, which seemed to be getting louder again. “I’m starting to worry Solonik is here for more than Nick, though.”

Jem glanced over from where he jogged beside me.

When I met the older seer’s gaze, he nodded, his mouth as grim as Black’s.

“I agree,” he said. “Charles is inordinately focused on Black, in particular. Some of that is seeing him as a threat… likely for the reasons he stated, because your husband is drawing seers to him who defect from Charles’ camp.

“…That’s not all of it, though,” Jem finished in a mutter.

“Meaning what?” I said, frowning.

Jem’s brow furrowed.

He looked past me to Black, staring at his eyes.

“I have a few theories,” he exhaled under his breath.

I followed his stare to Black, but Black only scowled.

Melodramatic b.s., he muttered in my mind.

Jem’s mental voice rose next to his.

Melodramatic? Really? That’s the position you’re taking?

When Black only rolled his eyes, Jem’s mental voice got louder.

Have you told her? Does your wife have any idea what you even are, brother? Or should I say ‘cousin’? he retorted.

When Black only clicked at him, Jem clicked back at him, louder.

I didn’t hallucinate that earlier, did I? Your eyes glow. Or were you going to pretend that didn’t happen? Glaring at Black, he snapped, She has no idea what that means, does she?

When I gave Black a puzzled look, he glared at Jem, his eyes openly warning.

Jem only scowled.

Does she have any idea how Charles would react, if he saw what I saw tonight? Much less his more fanatical religious followers? You about gave Jax a heart attack. You need to tell your own team something, at least––

“No. I don’t.” Black growled the words aloud that time, giving Jem an openly threatening look. “I don’t need to tell them shit––‘cousin.’ Neither do you. You’d be wrong, anyway.”

I frowned, looking between them.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Black sent me a hard pulse of light, his eyes warning in a different way that time. I felt what he meant, but it didn’t exactly clear up my confusion. When I frowned harder, not hiding my puzzlement, he gave me a barely perceptible shake of his head.

We’ll talk about it later.

I got the message. Both of his messages.

I shut my mouth.

Without thinking about why, I also blanked my mind.

I had no idea what was going on between the two of them, or what Jem was talking about in terms of Charles, or Black’s glowing irises, but clearly Black didn’t want Jem knowing my eyes glowed, too. I felt the protectiveness behind that, and not only in relation to Jem, so it didn’t bother me really, but I fully intended to take him up on that explanation once we were alone.

Exhaling his annoyance, Black focused back on the rest of the group.

He increased the pace of his military jog, scowling around at all of us.

“Someone get eyes on those goddamned vampires for me,” he snapped. “Now. Or I’m going to try bleeding a few of you, see if we can coax them out that way––”

“Sir!”

Black turned his head.

So did the rest of our group. For the first time it struck me that Jem wasn’t the only one who’d been staring at me and Black during that exchange.

It was Kiessa who’d spoken. She met Black’s gaze, her black and white-ringed eyes flashing, her expression grim but satisfied.

“We have them,” she said.